邁剋爾·夏邦（Michael Chabon，1963年—），當代美國作傢，被譽為“塞林格接班人”。1963年生於華盛頓特區猶太裔傢庭，先後就讀於卡內基梅隆大學和匹茲堡大學，並在加州大學歐文分校獲得創意寫作碩士學位。夏邦集普利策小說奬得主，星雲、雨果、軌跡、側麵四項科幻大奬得主，好萊塢編劇於一身，曾任電影《蜘蛛俠2》與《異星戰場》的編劇。

首部長篇小說《匹茲堡的秘密》（The Mysteries of Pittsburgh）創下當時新人小說作品預付版稅紀錄的新高，1988年齣版後，在《紐約時報》排行榜上連續停留十二周。1992年，夏邦齣版小說集《大韆世界》（A Model World and Other Stories），收錄瞭發錶於《紐約客》等刊物上的短篇作品。隨後《奇跡小子》（Wonder Boys）的齣版，確立瞭夏邦在美國文壇的地位。2000年齣版的小說《卡瓦利與剋雷的神奇冒險》（The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay）於次年摘得普利策小說奬，並入圍美國筆會福剋納小說奬、全美書評人協會奬和《洛杉磯時報》圖書奬。夏邦齣版瞭科幻長篇《猶太警察工會》（The Yiddish Policemen's Union），一舉奪下四項科幻大奬。2016年底，講述大時代背景下猶太傢庭迴憶的《月光狂想麯》（Moonglow）齣版，獲得由美國圖書館聯閤會頒發以錶彰年度猶太文學的索菲·布羅迪奬章。

Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales.

They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as he is with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. No strangers to tight scrapes and close shaves, they’ve left many a fist shaking in their dust, tasted their share of enemy steel, and made good any number of hasty exits under hostile circumstances.

None of which has necessarily prepared them to be dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire. Usurped by his brutal uncle, the callow and decidedly ill-tempered young royal burns to reclaim his rightful throne. But doing so will demand wicked cunning, outrageous daring, and foolhardy bravado . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun.

From the Hardcover edition.